


Adalwolfa

by killerbanshee



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-10-12
Packaged: 2018-12-10 00:30:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 12,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11680254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killerbanshee/pseuds/killerbanshee
Summary: They've been watching her.For the past three moons now they had been silently watching her, within the trees of the small town she called home. Silent, tucked, and hidden they always watched her with intensity… Just by taking one look at her you could tell she was a promise itself with her vibrant cascade of fire and curls, eyes of teal, and a smile honey-sweet. That’s why they needed to end her along with any other supernatural creature lurking through the woods.





	1. Chapter 1

  

   
**There’s an itching in the base of Lydia's spine, her shoulders are tense and her neck feels like someone stuck their claws into her throat and is seconds away from snapping it in half.**  
  
**Someone is following her.**  
  
**It may have been years since the last time she felt it, but there are just some things you don’t forget. They become a part of you, like a brand that’s been burned into your lungs and aches with every breath you take. That’s sort of exactly how she remembers everything from her time in Beacon Hills; a scab that won’t heal.**  
  
**It’s both a blessing and a curse.**  
  
**And right at this moment, she knows, without a doubt, that someone is following her.**  
  
**Lydia looks around; scans her surroundings for any sign of a threat, just the way Meredith taught her to. There’s too much and nothing to see. It’s the middle of the day, the sun it out bright and gorgeous, and she’s standing in the middle of a lacrosse field. There are children playing on the field and a mother bent down on one knee as she puts a band-aid over a little boy’s scraped knee and the coach is yelling at the team for making a wrong pass.**  
  
**Nothing stands out of the ordinary. She’s been in this field a hundred times and is on a first-name basis with the moms who’d let them tag along when they discovered Mackenzie could lead the team to the finals. Hannah had even conned her into keeping Mackenzie on the field after she scored 10 goals in one second, and Mackenzie had quickly squealed in delight once Lydia told her she could play on Saturday. All things considered, this was a normal day for Lydia.**  
  
**Except today.**  
  
**“What are you staring at, Mommy?”**  
  
**Lydia looks down at the little girl calling for her, clutching onto the ends of her lacrosse stick and leaning forward to grab a hold of her mother's hand.**

  
**God, she only moved away from Beacon hills because she knew the potential danger her baby could be in, but now she feels maybe running away wasn't going to save her.**  
  
**Her baby, who really wasn’t much of a baby anymore, might be in danger this existent and Lydia has never been so terrified until now.**

**Mackenzie Allison Martin was just over five years old now, with strawberry blonde, curly hair that fell down to her lower back and a pale complexion that was a touch lighter than her mother’s. In fact, the little girl was almost an exact replica of Lydia; all sharp features and high cheekbones. Except she had inherited her father's personality. There was so much of him in her tiny daughter that sometimes she wondered if one day someone would try to attack her for being so different.**

**Except Mackenzie has full control and just like her father she tries to protect people who need protecting. Lydia always scorns her about putting herself in danger, but Mackenzie tend to never learn.**

**  
Her daughter fully-aware of her potential, never could stop herself from caring about others. It’s a traits Lydia both loves and hates. She has that certain aspiration her father always carried when he tried to save Beacon hills.**  
  
_‘Mommy, we can't just leave them here, alone. They need us….please pretty please.”_  
  
**All of their friends thought it was adorable: she was a beautiful and precocious little girl who was a delight to be around and made even the most hardened of souls fall in love with her.**  
  
**Of course she would; she might not have his last name, but he was still a part of her through and through. If there was anything her father exceeded in, it was his ability to charm anyone with just his smile.**  
  
**Lydia loved her: fiercely and unconditionally and she’d rather die a thousand deaths than ever let any harm come to her daughter. Her daughter, who aside from her strength, was sweet and innocent and so very pure of heart and filled with so much unbridled joy that it made every single tear and sacrifice well-beyond worth it. Mackenzie was her sun and moon and stars and where once motherhood had terrified her, she could no longer picture a life without her.**  
  
**And now she might be in danger.**  
  
**“Nothing, sweetie,” she tries to reassure her, squeezing her hand and looking her directly in the eye. So that they’re both at eye-level and picking her up so she can cradle her in her arms. “I just think that maybe it’d be best if you and I go home now and celebrate your victory alone.”**  
  
**Home, where there are loads of neighbors who always keep an eye out for them and her windows are barred and her doors have wolfsbane sprawled out keeping them safe from any supernatural creature.**  
  
**“Okay,” Mackenzie agrees, never one to throw a tantrum. She leans forwards and rests her head on Lydia’s shoulder, wrapping her arms around her neck and burying her  nose against her shoulder blades. “I’m tired anyways.” Lydia can’t stop the laugh that bubbles in her chest because that was her baby.**  
  
**Home is different nowadays.**  
  
**It’s nothing in comparison to the house she’d been raised in back in Beacon hill: small and cosy and with so many books and potions that are hidden just in case. It’s not big enough but It definitely not like the creepy lake house she’d stayed in whenever she lost control of her body, and discovered new things like the dead pool made by Peter Hale.**  
  
**No. She doesn't want to think about him. Peter Hale was part of the reason she ran away and she never wanted to remember how he taunted her everyday she looked at herself in the mirror.**  
  
**She rather forget about her past and start something new in her new house. A house Peter Hale never entered. It is comfortable and clean: a little 2-bedroom apartment in a decent side of town that never encountered werewolf's or hunters. It had a balcony just big enough for them to have a couple of flower pots outside and while they might not be allowed to have a dog, her landlord had made no objection when Mackenzie had flashed her wide eyes in his directions and asked him if she could keep the dog she saved from the streets.**  
  
**They had nothing but happy memories here, and it was the one place where Lydia’s always felt safe.**  
  
**Which is why, when there’s a soft knock on her door twenty minutes after they got home, her instincts didn’t kick into overdrive. The sun is still out and she can hear children playing outside and her neighbor is still washing the car less than thirty feet away from their front yard. She figures it’s probably Sam, passing by to collect the toys his son had forgotten the last time he came over for a playdate or maybe it’s Mrs. Patterson from down the hall, who likes to drop off fresh fruit for Mackenzie every time her tree grows some apples.**  
  
**The blanket of security that cocoons her everytime she steps into her home momentarily causes her to forget one vital fact, and Lydia’s not sure if she’ll ever be able to forgive herself for it.**  
  
**Somebody had been following her.**  
  
**When she opens the door, it’s not to find Sam or Mrs. Patterson or any of the other familiar faces that tended to stop by more often than necessary because of their attachment to her daughter.**  
  
**No.**  
  
**Instead, he’s - standing as tall and as broody and as imposing as ever - Theo the chimera, is looking so out of place and out of his element and threatening to shatter this beautiful life that’s she’s worked so hard to build for her daughter just the way he’d contributed to ruining her own when he attacked her at the library.**  
  
**Her instincts snap into place and Lydia’s not even aware of her arm moving to slam the door shut in his face. It’s of no use, though, because as fast as she may be he always had more of a practiced trigger-reactions. His broad shoulder shoves the door forwards, causing her to lose her footing and stumble back just enough for him to slip in through the gap and lock the door shut behind him.**  
  
**No. no. no. no.**  
  
**He might want Mackenzie. He might hurt Mackenzie.**  
  
**Lydia clenches her fists and stands her ground, allowing her fiercest glare to be directed at Theo at the same time that she begs and prays that he didn't come to take Mackenzie. Hopefully Mackenzie stays inside her room watching The Little Mermaid and doesn’t come running out at the sound of their commotions. Deep in her heart she knows that it’s useless: if Theo was the one watching her then there’s no chance that he didn’t get a good look of Mackenzie eyes glowing yellow on the field. There was still a chance that she could deny it all; claim that Mackenzie was wearing contacts that seemed to look the same as their eyes.**  
  
**But no lie her panicked mind could conceive would be believable if he come close to her.**

**Finally, she decided to speak up, taking a few steps forward until she’s invading his personal space.**

**“Get out,” she grinds out, clenching her jaw and looking angrier and more focused than  ever before. “You can't come into my house.”**

**He doesn't budge  
**

**It’s her fault, really, for being naïve enough to hope that this bullshit was ever going to end. She just hopes Theo doesn't try to attack Mackenzie.**

**  
"What’s wrong?” He continues. “Not happy to see me?”**

  
  
**“What do you want with me?,” she hisses as she blocks him from moving forward.**

  
  
**“ I have to admit I never thought I’d see you again?” he says as he steps into the light to show off a lewd grin and yellow eyes.**  
  
**“That makes two of us, so why are you here” she questions.**

**“Right, yeah,” He chuckles as he circles her, “ I just came to tell you, you're are in danger and that little girl you love will also be in danger.” She turns away from Theo’s touch and wraps her arms around her shivering torso.**

**“You’re pathetic if you think you can hurt me,” she says as she shakes her head. “ You don't even have the power you absorb from your chimera. You’re nothing but a fake.”**

**“Really, Lydia. You'd think I would hurt you?” he asks with a hand to his chest before laughing. “ Lydia I would never hurt you not after spending years down in the ground with her. I just came as a courtesy to Scott.” He says while he reaches out and gently runs his thumb over her cheek. His dull eyes flash in the brief light through the heavy curtains, and the shadows dancing over his eyes makes him appear more sickly than she remembers.**

**She pulls his hand from her face and steps back. “ Why would Scott ask you to look for me?,” she asked, “I told him I wanted a new life away from him.”**

**Oh Lydia,” Theo purrs, “ You really think you could run away from Beacons Hills and forget what happened. He bares his teeth in a malicious smile. “You’re in over your head, banshee. Everywhere you go you will be in danger. Beacon Hills or not that girl will still be hunted and she will only survived by being near us." he finishes with a lazy shrug.**

**“I don’t. . . I,” she trails off into silence, not sure what she’s trying to communicate. She takes a step back from him and lets her eyes drift upstairs, searching for Mackenzie.**

**“What?” he asks harshly, “ you haven't heard how hunters are trying to kill any supernatural creature they find. “You haven't felt the death of all the werewolf’s around us? Because I have followed you and seen how you gone days without sleeping. How are you going to protect your girl when five werewolf have died in this town.”**

**“I don’t care,” she says. “I’ll find a way without your help. You can’t force me to go.”**

**“This is serious, Lydia,” he says with a tight brow. “ Two hunters were following you today and they threatened Scott. If it wasn't for me Mackenzie would've been dead.”**

**“Well, I guess I’m lucky you found me,” she sighs. “Have you talked to the others about Mackenzie.”**

**“No, I didn't think you would want them to know about your daughter.” he says. “But Scott and Stiles will figure it out.”**

**Lydia almost drops her stern glare at the mention of the name. “ Why don't you tell Scott to screw himself. I am fine without him and Stiles.”**

**“ Lydia it's time to face the truth. Go back before you put her in danger.”**

  
**The chimera stands slowly and places a letter on her desk. “Stiles sent it, but Lydia we can’t help you if you don’t let us,” he says softly as he removes his hand from the letter.**  
  
**She doesn’t look up until she hears the murmur of his truck fade into the still night.**


	2. Chapter 2

****

** Dear Lydia, **

**     Hi Lydia. If your reading this, thank you, for opening this letter and not throwing it away when you saw it was from me. You're probably thinking, “why is stiles writing me a letter?” and are resisting the urge to throw this away… but anyway, please listen, because I have something to tell you. **

** I have known you for such a long time..God its hard to believe. I remember when I first saw you.. We were eight years old. You were sitting at recess, with your hair in a braid playing on the swings with a few other kids. I remember getting this feeling, that I haven't ever felt before.  **

** My first crush. **

**  Normally, the way this goes is you have a crush at 8, then a new one at 9, 10, and so forth. Honestly though, that never happened to me. **

**Every year I would see us grow and become ourselves.. and you’d think i would find someone else.. but I didn't. My feelings for you just continued to grow.... and this isn't just a “crush,” Lydia. **

****

** When I heard that you left Beacon Hills… I cant even describe the feeling that came over me. It was like a piece of me was taken, gone. I literally felt a piece of my heart break off and roll across the floor…If that’s not a disgusting visual for you.  **

** All I asked from you is to come back and maybe reconsider starting over with me or at least let me know if you're okay, and safe. I honestly don't know what I did wrong I thought everything was going perfect then you leave without a word.. I just need to hear you, (see you),that would be enough for me. All I ask for is for you to come back. **

** I always dream of us. Starting a future together. I remember you said we were going to start over somewhere new hopefully when this is all over we could finally finish what we started. **

** so that pretty much sums it up. I love you Lydia always had and don't you forget it. **

**                               love, **

**                                   Stiles  **

 

** Stiles's letter had lifted Lydia's spirits considerably. He still loved her even after the dark bits they had experience throughout their life's. Maybe she could go back and fix the relationship she ruined. **

 

** Stiles would understand why she ran. He said it himself and if what he said was true then maybe they could start off were they left off. She just had to pack her bag and leave everything behind. Except this time she couldn't just think about herself now she had a daughter that depended on her and what if Stiles didn't accept Mackenzie with open arms. He might love Lydia but raising some one else's daughter might not have been part of his plan. **

 

** Especially when Mackenzie was a reminder on why their relationship failed. Clearly, he was smart enough to put two and two together and see Lydia wasn't all that loyal in their perfect relationship. **

 

** God why did she have to self sabotage herself. Stiles didn't deserve to be cheated on but then she let herself act on her feelings and ruined everything in one second. **

 

** After his impassioned declarations, after hearing about how much he missed her, Lydia suddenly felt stupid for being a coward for the past few years. Stiles deserved to know the truth, and instead of owning up to her mistake she is here in her kitchen crying of guilt. She felt ashamed. Stupid even. **

 

** "Mommy,"her voice startles Lydia out of whatever trance she was in. Her eyes lock onto Lydia’s and she visibly deflates at the sight of her. “Why are you crying?" **

** **

** "It's nothing, sweetie,” she tries to reassure her, kneeling down so that they’re both at eye-level. "Why don't you go upstairs and wash your hands before dinner." **

 

** "Mom, I can tell when you’re lying, remember?” **

 

** "It's nothing really." **

 

** "The house reeks of fear,” says Mackenzie, “He scared you didn't he? The guy you were talking to earlier?" **

 

** Lydia swallows.  She really doesn’t want to tell her anything.  Maybe it’s selfish, but she didn't want her daughter to know about him or anyone in her past life. She wanted to put her past behind her and live her life like she had before Theo came in and ruined her life. **

 

** “I don’t want to talk about it,” she says.  Mackenzie balks at her words, her body lurching up with the force that she uses to raise both hands above her head. **

 

** "Mom! Just tell me are we going to be in danger!”  She throws her head back while she talks.  Mackenzie can hear her heart rate increasing, and she can smell her fear, something is wrong and right now she needed to know if she should be scared for her life. **

 

**  “What no?” she says, “ I would never let no one hurt you. Sweetie I would fight tooth and nails before I let any stranger near my baby.....You need to forget about what you heard and just live a normal life. I'll be here to protect you from anyone." **

 

**“You believe me right?"**

****

** “Yeah, totally. I’m just…trying to understand why they're bad people in the world? Why they go after people like us? Why they fear our kind?” **

 

** She definitely knew Mackenzie heard Theo and her over talk about the hunters, and she could tell that something about what they said had shaken her to the core. **

 

** Without a second thought, she wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, gently rubbing her arm. Despite the heaviness in her stomach, Mackenzie sunk into the warmth of her mothers side, appreciative of the simple gesture. Her touch always made the room warmer somehow, she felt safe now. **

** **

** "Thank you, mom. I’m glad I have you around." **

 

** “Of course, now go wash your hands." **

 

** When she gets to the stairs, Lydia makes sure to act normal and to take deep, steady breaths in order to calm herself because she had to act as if nothing was wrong. **

 

**_ "Mackenzie” _ **

**_     This voice is soft and sweet like honeysuckle.  It screaming at her or crying like the other voices. _ **

**_ “Mackenzie” _ **

**_     The voice never sounds different. It only ever says the name, of the people in danger. _ **

**_ “Mackenzie” _ **

 

** Something is coming for her daughter. **

 

** The next thing she sees is Mackenzie falling onto the ground, a dozen arrows shot into her. **

 

** This can't be her fate. Lydia needs to prevent this from happening. **

 

** "Mackenzie,"before Lydia could react a hunter is standing above her daughter with two ring daggers armed and ready to use. **

 

** “Please, don't hurt her!” Lydia shrieks, rushing towards the blond-haired female in an effort to stop her from doing something so reckless and dangerous; Lydia didn’t know what she was going to do, she didn’t think she would actually  attack  a five year old werewolf but before Lydia can even grasp hold of the back of Mackenzie’s cotton shirt, the hunter moves in an effortless yet graceful way that forces Lydia to stop dead in her tracks. She doesn’t have time to talk to her, she doesn’t have the time to protect her daughter, she only had time to scream. **

 

** Just when she thought all hope was lost, her front door kicks open and before Lydia can turn her head to see who it is, two men enter her house ready to attack. **

 

** They had come. **

 

** Derek, Stiles and Theo had come. **

 

** And Lydia feels relief when Theo jumps through a window and attacks the hunter from behind using his anger as strength to pull the hunter away from Mackenzie; he pins her arms to her sides and holds her,squeezing her with her arms until she is forced to drop her weapons. **

 

** Finally, Mackenzie turns around flashing her vibrant yellow gold eyes and grey-claws, panting, out a growl; Lydia goes over to Mackenzie, bends at her knees, hands hesitantly reaching out towards her, unsure if she will snap. **

 

** Don’t.” Her voice is quiet. “Please don’t get near me." **

 

** "Sweetie," **

 

** “Maybe they were right. We are just violent creatures waiting to lash out. Maybe I am just a monster.” **

 

** "Don't you ever say that....I believe in you...I believe in your ability to use your powers for good." **

 

** Within seconds Mackenzie lets her features relax back into her human face. That's when Stiles noticed her. **

 

** She looks just like Lydia when she was in third grade. **

 

** The girl who stole his heart by just one look. **

 

 

** “Lydia” **

 

** He barely recognizes his own voice. **

 

** There’s this anger there, this resentment, and it somehow manages to scare him because he doesn’t know how to control it. He’s been in shitty situations but this, this feels like treason. He wants to scream at her. He wants to corner her against the wall and demand answers. He wants her to look him in the eyes and confess and he wants the satisfaction of telling her that she’s not forgiven. **

 

** But standing here in a life threatening situation he knew he should've just kept his mouth shut until they took care of business....Except Stiles was never good at keeping his mouth shut. "Hey, Lyds is she..." **

 

** Lydia doesn'tlook at him, couldn't look at him, it seemed. "Stiles…..please don’t...not now.” **

 

** “Lydia .” He repeats, and she can’t lie to him because he’d knows it was a lie.  And since her silence is pretty much the same as telling the truth, she does the next best thing. **

 

** She faints **

 

** "Mom!" **

 

** "Lydia" **


	3. Chapter 3

 

**She’s somewhere between denial and delusion.**

**Lydia’s sitting inside a car she’d never seen before, petting the dog on her lap while her daughter stared out the window looking at anything except her mother. The last people she thought she’d ever see again are in the driver and passenger’s seats as Stiles sits next to her dragging them back into the wolves’ den. The ride has been long and no one dares to make a remark about what just happened back at her house.**

**And, most importantly, for the first time in Lydia’s life, she is scared.**

**She doesn’t know how to deal with this.**

**It’d been such a long time since she’d had more than a few seconds to not think about random supernatural creatures and hunters. Every decision she’d taken in the past five years had been based solely on what she considered the best choice for her daughter, and it was more than a simple adjustment having to curve her need to protect Mackenzie at all costs and let the consequences be damned.**

**She hates that she wishes she could go back in time and redo her life.**

**She hates herself for regretting everything she’s done.**

**She hates that she kept him away from his daughter and stole away that piece of happiness.**

**Mostly, she hates that having to do so was her only option.**

**“We need to stop soon.”**

**They’ve been driving for nearly six hours now.**

**Derek had only given her enough time to pack a small suitcase before they were basically shoving her out the door, mumbling something about how they could go shopping for whatever else she needed once they were somewhere safer, and stuffing her and Mackenzie and their dog into the backseat of the shiny black Camero with the ridiculously tinted windows they were currently driving.**

**Twenty-four hours ago she was home. Now she’s running away because a crazy lady decided to break in and kill them out of fear.**

**(God how she hated that women.)**

**“What?” Derek questions, giving them both a quick glance over his shoulder before focusing back on the road. It’s nearing midnight now, and they both knew how dangerous the road could be at night.**

**“We need to stop soon,” Lydia repeats, watching the way Mackenzie was quietly squirming in her seat and wringing her fingers together. Her little girl was still scared of herself, and she knew that she was in desperate need of a talk with her mother, without having three strangers around. “Somewhere clean and well-lit, please.”**

**“We’re about fifteen miles from our destination,” Derek responds, stepping on the accelerator. “Can you wait a couple more minutes ‘til we get there?”**

**“Yes,” Mackenzie pipes up, petting the dog that was curling up in her arms and whispering, “ I really wish we wait until we arrive at grandma’s.”**

**“Fine, suit yourself,” Lydia says it as if Mackenzie didn’t hurt her by scooting away from her mother’s touch. “But I’m hungry.”**

**“You don’t get it,” Theo says sharply, finally speaking “We can’t stop! Not when we don’t know our enemy.”**

**“But we’ didn’t get a chance to eat,” she answers rapidly as if that was ultimately the deciding factor in her little argument. “My daughter won’t go a day without food in her system.”**

**Theo doesn’t get a chance to argue.**

**“There’s a diner near here that has the best milkshakes in all places,” Stiles ends up cutting in, no doubt using this opportunity to talk to Lydia. “We can all pick what we want to eat.”**

**“Can we wait?” Mackenzie questions her, looking up at her with her big green eyes and a few strands of hair covering her face. She can see the guy’s reflections on the rearview mirrors, too, both waiting with bated breath for her reaction. Then she can feel Stiles silently begging her to say No.**

**Lydia wonders if this is what her life is going to be like now.**

**Because this is the second time Mackenzie has been scared of the outside world. This is the second time in less than half a day that she pulled away from Lydia and looked down at her hand in horror. Now, everything that seemed normal is turned upside-down. Lydia knew far too well what abrupt changes could do to children if they felt like they were out of their element and didn’t have a lifeline to hold onto.**

**She intended to be that lifeline and focus of stability for her child. (Especially right now when she needed it the most.)**

**Yeah, because she’s really stupid enough to believe everything will be okay.**

 

**Supernatural, it’s a part of Mackenzie life, and no amount of denial is going to make that fact disappear. And she will not let no one scare her daughter from life. No way will Mackenzie fear herself not while she lives.**

 

**“No, we can’t.”**

* * *

 

 

**Annie’s is a twenty-four-hour diner located minutes before crossing into the city. It has the same vintage feel that used to be so popular in the 70s and Lydia is half-expecting for the waitresses to be wearing roller-skates. There’s a Chevron station right next to it and a drive-in rest stop on the opposite side. A peek through the Camero’s window and she can spot a few more families sitting inside or taking a minute walk around the pleasant lot.**

 

**Stiles’s been right.**

 

**It’s not a bad place to stop.**

 

**“Okay, folks,” Derek instructs as soon as he shuts the car off and Lydia guides the dog into her traveling crate. “Let’s do this as quickly as possible so we can head on out.”**

 

**“We’re going to be fine, Derek,” Stiles tries to reassure him, but Derek continues to shrug him off. While Theo glares daggers at Lydia and Stiles for making them stop.**

 

**The minute they cross into the diner Stiles is pulling on her sleeves, dragging her along in search of a restroom and shouting directions behind him for the group to start without them. Lydia follows her ex, thinking that maybe her mind is starting to call it quits on her because she feels as if she’s running on autopilot; going through the motions and still on high-alert but emotionally exhausted.**

 

**“She’s a werewolf,”  Is all Stiles can say when Lydia gives him the nod to go ahead, telling him that they were out of listening range.**

 

**Lydia doesn’t react to what Stiles says, she simply nods and encourages him to go on.**

 

**“Did you cheat on me with Theo.”**

 

**Lydia shakes her head. She doesn’t know how to explain that Theo wasn’t the father or if she should tell him about the father. As silly and as mundane as it was, she still didn’t want to compromise her affair with him. She didn’t want to compromise his relationship with Stiles but that was too late now. So with a heave of breath and her pulling her arm away from Stiles, Lydia feels her world crumble inside of her again.**

 

**“Stiles, please don’t.”**

 

**“Oh, my god, don’t you think I deserve an explanation!”**

 

**“Stiles this is ridiculous.  Call me when we’re actually back to discussing important issues.  Like, oh, say, a hunter trying to kill my daughter. Anyone, still care about that?  Or has my personal life taken priority?”**

 

**No one says anything.  She purses her lips.  “Fine,” she says and turns on her heels to walk away.**

**“Lydia, wait. Lydia, I said wait.”**

**“I heard you,” she says.**

**“Okay. . .” says Stiles.  He looks confused.  “I just want to know.  Just. . . can we talk for a second?”**

**“Nope,” she answers.**

**“No. . . We can’t talk?” he asks.**

**“That’s right.  I’ve got a daughter I need to talk to before she starts to resent me.”**


	4. Chapter 4

 

**“I like you,” Mackenzie informs them, beaming at Derek and Theo’s while she wiped her hands with a napkin.**

 

**“Really?”**

 

**“Yeah, you saved my life .”**

**Her words, along with the innocence with which they’d been presented, feel like a knife aimed right for their life.**

**Apparently, there was still room in their heart to feel sorry for her situation.**

**“That’s really good,” Theo murmurs, reaching out his hand for the tiny girl to high five. “Because we won't let nobody hurt you.”**

* * *

 

**When they spot Lydia and Stiles, it’s to find them sitting across from each other in a corner booth and exchanging harsh whispers, with Lydia looking like she’s two seconds away from punching Stiles in the face.**

**So, you know, Stiles is still investigating on Mackenzie father.**

**What’s not normal is Lydia deciding to pull her hand free from Stiles and walk along until she’s taking a seat beside Theo, grabbing for one of the menus with a quick glance at Stiles before she lays her head on Theo’s shoulder.**

 

**“Stiles, aren't you going to sit.”**

 

**“Yea, sorry,” he murmurs, looking around the booth noticing the only seat left open is the one next to Derek, and he doesn’t have to wonder why Lydia decided to make the inconvenient seating chart.**

**“Hey, what are you doing?” Theo questions, giving Lydia a quick glance.**

**“I’m sorry I'm just really tired,” Lydia whispered back, leaning her head down so, her chin would rest against his temple and brushed her fingertips with his fingers.**

**“Really because it looks like…”**

**“So,” the blonde teenager cut in, cheerful and polite and doing her absolute best not to look too mesmerized by her table’s current occupants. “Is everybody ready to order?”**

**Lydia almost thanks, God aloud when the waitress shows up.**

 

**She can only imagine what would happen if Theo decided to blurt the truth. Stiles would probably make a scene in front of Mackenzie or worse say something that he will regret.**

 

**Hence, she wouldn't be surprised if Mackenzie could feel the tension in the air.**

 

**“I want a cheeseburger with fries and a coke.” Responds Stiles, finally taking his eyes off Lydia.**

**“The same for us,” Theo adds, pointing at Derek and himself.**

**“Me, too,” Lydia agrees, not even bothering to open up her own menu before looking up at the waitress and reciting her daughter’s favorite order. “And she’ll have the Chicken Nuggets with French Fries and a glass of chocolate milk.”**  
  
**“Horchata!” Mackenzie giggles, pointing to a picture of the beverage on her menu and Lydia has no idea what the hell is going on when Theo’s mouth breaks out into a grin and Stiles drops his head forward and groans underneath his breath and the waitress stares at them all like they’re insane.**  
  
**It doesn’t take her much longer to hurry away.**

**“Hey, Mackenzie,” Stiles speaks up, waiting for her to put her colors down before continuing. “Do you have any nicknames you like people calling you?”  
**

**“Mommy calls me Kenzie,” she answers, scrunching her nose in concentration before grinning at her own memories. “And Shawn calls me a healer because I always help him with the pain.”**

**Derek does not look impressed.**

**“You know,” Stiles continues, pretending like he didn’t see the warning glares being directed his way. “I always give everyone I like a special nickname.”**

**Now Mackenzie is interested. “Did my mommy have one?”**

**“Crazy-Bansh...,” Theo begins to blab, and Lydia prepares herself to hear the familiar term she heard all throughout high school but Stiles cuts him off.**

  
**“I called your mom, ‘Lyds but when we used to date I always thought of her as a princess’,” he answers, watching the smile that blooms on Mackenzie’s face as she claps her hands in excitement at her mother being referred to as one. “Because she was as pretty as one.”**

  
**“I always tell Mommy she’s beautiful,” Mackenzie agrees vehemently, and Lydia feels her heart flourish and break simultaneously. “Everybody thinks so!”**

**“I’ve got one for you, too, if you don’t mind.”**

**Jesus Christ, it’s like watching two trains that are about to collide.**

**“What is it?” she questions, nearly bouncing in her seat with giddiness as she leans closer to him and shifts so they can stare at each other clearly.**

**“You, little lady, are very, very important to me,” Stiles clarifies, offering his hands until Mackenzie places her delicate ones on top of his palms, and Lydia doesn’t miss the strength and devotion behind his words. “And, because of that, I’m going to call you ‘Adalwolfa**

**Adalwolfa- A German name meaning noble she-wolf. People with this name have the inner desire to help humanity and are excellent on expressing themselves.**

  
**He’s staring at her now: waiting for her reaction and daring her to stand against him.**

**Mackenzie knows enough to understand what he’s telling her without even having to open his mouth.**

**‘Being a wolf isn't exactly bad not when you have the ability to help others.’**

 

**They tried to break her down, and now he was making sure Mackenzie never doubted herself.**


	5. Chapter 5

**“I can explain.”**

 

**“Oh, really?” Natalie scoffs, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she pauses her pacing and glares at her. She looks like she hasn’t slept in days and her age is finally catching up to her – her faced more wrinkled now than before – and Lydia knows she might’ve been the cost of it.  “You can explain how you left Beacon Hills without telling him?”**

 

**“I’m not a teenager-.,” she tries to defend herself but shuts right up when the older women narrow her eyes at her in violent defiance and dare her to try and plead her sins away. “…anymore.”**

 

**They’d gotten to the Stilinski’s household minutes before sunrise, and Lydia had hoped Stiles’s father would be at the sheriff station. (He might not be in top physical shape anymore, but that didn’t mean he still dedicated his time to the sheriff station.) Still, the man was here, spending his day off with his new wife- her mother and probably is hearing them scream upstairs in his room, and the last thing she’d wanted to do was have Stiles and Mr.Stilinski hear about Lydia decision without her having time to explain.**

 

**“Goddammit, I expect this kind of shit from the old Lydia,” she accuses, serving herself a glass of wine and pouring it down her throat before slamming the glass back on the table. “You’re supposed to be the reasonable one. What, you couldn’t tell him about his daughter? Please tell me you at least told Stiles about the father.”**

 

**Lydia bristles.**

 

**Because, yeah, she might be a bitch, but she won’t dare be a fucken bitch.**

 

**Regardless of popular opinion.**

**“Mom I tried but you have to understand. I can’t hurt Stiles not again,” she vows, running a hand through her hair in exasperation and guilt and frustration and every other feeling she’s been carrying on her shoulders for the past five years. Funny, how she’d spent so long living in denial, and now that she’d finally faced herself the weight of it all left her feeling like she’d just taken a shot in the back. “It was right after our fight and when everything went to hell with Stiles. I was in a dark place, and I’m not excusing myself, but I thought he was leaving us and I had no one except Scott.”**

 

**Natalie doesn’t look convinced. “When will you talk to Scott?”**

 

**Jesus, she doesn’t want to answer that.**

 

**She doesn’t want to stand here and tell her mom how she doesn’t want to face her faults and remember her mistakes and admit aloud to her and herself just how she fears Scott and Stiles reaction. She doesn’t want to list every reason why Scott shouldn't know about Mackenzie– why she can’t really bring herself to ask for his help.**

 

**Why maybe she should’ve kept on running instead of coming back to Beacon Hills.**

 

**She doesn’t want to tell her mom how she’s scared of the presence; why she’d shown up here with her baby girl and failed to protect her from all the bad in the world. She doesn’t want to explain how she failed as a mother and couldn't do what her mother has done for years.**

 

**She doesn’t want to confess just how Mackenzie needed Scott more than her because that meant she’d turned out just like her father. A coward.**

 

**“I told Stiles, Theo was the father.”**

 

  **“You did what?” Natalie questions and Lydia has no doubt that her mom heard her loud and clear. No, this is simply her ensuring that she understands the depth of the stupidity the girl she’d helped raise had exhibited the moment she was completely on her own.**

 

**Because that’s always been Natalie’s code: you don’t run or hide from the truth. Not when the lie hurts people.**

 

**And, God, Lydia has failed.**

 

**Sleeping with Scott was a mistake.**

 

**And she could try and justify herself and her choices and argue with her conscious about how it’s better if Theo took the fault, but there’s no person or God who will ever believe her not when the truth always comes out.**

 

**There’s no reason in any world in which she could explain why she’d forced Theo into stepping foot as Mackenzie father and how she never even bothered asking him if it was okay.**

**Goddammit, even if she did Theo will never go on with her lies.**

 

**“They came into my house and took me before a hunter could hurt us. I thought I had enough time to tell Stiles about her but then he forced me into a bathroom and assume Theo was the father…... I denied it at first but when he asked again, I couldn’t tell him Scott and I…. Mom you have to understand if I ever tell Stiles about that night he will hate Scott. I can’t be that girl.”**

**  
“Baby,” she scowls, staring at her in sorrow and disbelief. “You have done a lot of dumb things but this one takes the cake. I’m sorry for not being there when you needed me.”**

 

‘It wasn’t your fault, I was selfish, I fucked Scott,’ Lydia wants to yell, but wisely decides to keep that observation locked up in her chest.

 

**“It only happened one night?” she defends herself, but the excuse sounds weak, even to her, and she adds in a truth to balance her blame. “I was mad at Stiles for turning his back on us. I was mad that he left when we needed him the most, whereas Scott stayed and tried to protect everyone from the evil lurking these streets. He never ran when it got worse and was always here for everyone because that’s the kind of guy Scott is.”**

 

**They both stay silent after that, and Lydia dedicated a moment of silence to see if anyone has heard. She hopes Mackenzie was still out with Derek hiding at his place with them looking out for her instead of hearing them argue.**

**“Okay,” Natalie exhales, taking the time to process everything she’d just been told. “But are you sure you don't have feelings for Scott?**

 

  **She really, really, doesn’t like her mother sometimes.**

 

**How does one say, “She at one point did have feelings for Scott but never followed them because Stiles was his best friend and Scott would never hurt him intentionally? How does one explain that? Scott only slept with her because he was mad at himself for putting all of them in danger and lost himself to his other side then left once he realized the mistake they have done. He then asked her if she could keep it between them because he honestly couldn’t bare hurting Stiles. The only family he had left.**

 

  **Simple: one doesn’t.**

**“Scott was a mistake.”**

 

**If only her mom would ever drop a subject that easily. “And Mackenzie?”**

 

**Lydia doesn’t have to think about it.**

 

**“No,” she answers immediately. “She’s not.”**

 

**“I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess she doesn’t know about her father.”**

 

**“Goddammit, of course not,” she groans, clenching her fingers into fists and squeezing them shut until they feel seconds away from breaking under the strain. “I can’t hurt her after I told her he was dead.”**

 

**Natalie’s not done getting her answers. “Do I even want to know why you lied to her?”**

 

**The usual Lydia motive, I was a bitch.**

 

**“I fucked up,” she admits, and on this front, she refuses to place an inch of the blame on anyone shoulders. “I honestly don’t know why I tried to hide her from him. Just, let me fix my wrong, alright? She barely trusts me and the last thing she needs is to deal with even more of this news.”**

 

**A beautiful minute to catch her breath, and then:**

 

**“I pray to God that he forgives you. Now let’s go outside before Stiles comes looking for us.” She says, standing up from her seat and tightening her robe so she can look a bit more decent. “Besides, I think I hear someone knocking from downstairs.”**

 

  **Turns out she had to face her problems sooner than later.**

 

  **Because when they walked out of the Sheriff’s room and back into the living and kitchen area, Stiles is pacing around the room gritting his teeth and whispering nonsense about Theo, while Scott looks far too worried about something.**

 

**“Scott, for the last time, she told me they slept together and he straight up didn’t deny it either.”**

 

  **“I don’t understand why would Lydia hook up with Theo?” Scott asked, arching an eyebrow**

 

  **“Seriously?” he snaps. “That’s the first thing you say?  No, ‘I have a theory’, or ‘I know she’s lying.”**

 

**“What?” he says, “I’m not going to talk about the past when Lydia needs us. So why don’t you forget about Theo and focus on what’s important.”**

 

 **“Maybe Scott right.” Lydia says, “Why are you focus** **on the pass when my daughter is in danger.” Stiles looks at Lydia, clearly shocked.**

 

**“Lydia Martin!” Scott greets, his face overtaken by the grin he’s sporting.  “How are you"**

 

**“Hey, Scott.”**


	6. Chapter 6

**Lydia has had a lot to think about.  The hunter, the attack, the key to ending this war, Scott, Mackenzie and now Gerard.  It’s quickly becoming too much to handle.  So when Scott is here right in her house telling her Gerard is behind the attack, Lydia pretty much loses it. How will she be able to protect Mackenzie when the family has been active for four hundred years. How is Mackenzie going to feel secure when everyone everywhere is after her and how are they going to end this when a psychopath is after her daughter.**

 

**“Lydia?”  She tries to steady her breathing before she talks, but it proves useless.  When she speaks, the words come out rushed and shaky.**

 

**“I don’t think coming back here was a good idea.”**

 

**“Lydia, you sound like you haven’t slept in days.  I think you might be better just getting a good’s night rest.”**

 

**“I can’t sleep!” she yells in a sharp high-pitched voice. “Every time I close my eyes I hear them whisper Mackenzie name.” She says looking at the two boys. “I’m scared he might hurt her or worse.”**

 

**“Hey, we won’t let her get hurt. Right, Scott?”**

 

**“Lydia, Mackenzie is safe with our pack. I just talk to Liam and he said she’s asleep.” he says and relief floods her in awesome waves.  He continues, “Lydia, listen to me, it’s going to be okay.  I promise. We’ll figure it out, okay?”**

 

**“Thank you.”**

 

**Stiles gently tugs Lydia away, without saying a word. She appreciates that.  Lydia doesn’t think she can form words right now.  Scott sniffs and breaks the silence.**

 

**“You need to rest.  I can smell your exhaustion from here.”**

 

**Lydia turns to look at him and nods slowly.  Sleep might be okay.  She can always try again when she wakes up.  Stiles and Scott exchange looks before Scott starts to gather the new found information, and Stiles pulls out his phone.  Now Lydia’s confused. She clears her throat before she speaks.**

 

**“What are you doing?”  Her voice sounds terrible.**

 

**“I’m calling Derek telling him we need to meet tomorrow morning.” says Stiles**

 

**“But. . .  I have to be with Mackenzie,” Lydia says.**

 

**“She’s okay,” says Stiles.  “We can keep plotting after you’ve slept, but you need to sleep.”**

 

**She dreams of Mackenzie that night. No surprise there.  But what does surprise her is that for the first time she isn’t hearing their voices, Lydia’s with her running down a hall together.  Lydia doesn’t know why; they’re back in her old high school.  Maybe they were revisiting.  Mackenzie’s hand is balled in the sleeve of Lydia’s jacket, forcing her to run as fast as the werewolf.  They turn a corner, then another, and suddenly Mackenzie is pulling them into a closet.  It’s dark, but Lydia’s eyes adjust fast.  Something about this makes Lydia believe this will be her future.  Her death.  There’s so much she wants to say.  So many questions she needs to answer.  She opens her mouth, but Mackenzie quickly clamps her hand over it.  Mackenzie shakes her head, and raise her free hand to put a finger on her lips in the universal sign for ‘quiet’.  Her eyes are wide as she signs it, and Lydia can feel her heart racing. Mackenzie uncovers Lydia’s mouth at the same time that she lowers her finger from her own.  She walks to the door and turns to Lydia and mouths the words, “They’re coming”.**

 

**She gasps awake to Scott gently saying her name.  He’s sitting up and holding her.  He sounds calm, but when Lydia meets his eyes, she recognizes the dilated pupils of someone in panic mode.**

 

**“Lydia,” he’s saying, “you’re having a nightmare.  Can you hear me? Lydia?”  She nods, still too shaken to use words.  She can’t really remember what she was dreaming, but her heart feels like it’s going to explode, and her entire body is thumping in time with it.**

 

**“What happened?” she asks feeling embarrassed and curious at the same time.**

 

**“I’m not sure,” he says with his arms still around her.  “I just felt like I needed to wake you.”**

 

**“Are you okay,”**

 

**“I don’t think I can be alone right now.”**

 

**“Did you. . .”  he says but stops, “I mean. . . have you heard. . .” he stops again and sighs.  He seems to be having a mental debate of some kind.  Good thing for him that Lydia’s a genius and can figure out where he’s trying to say.**

 

**“Did I hear the voices?”**

 

**He looks up and nods.**

 

**“Sometimes. . . ”  she says quietly**

 

**“Can you hear them now?”**

 

**She can, very softly, in fact, but it doesn’t matter.  She can tell where Scott is going with this.“At first, they whisper her name here and there, but then I. ... I dream of her death,” she pauses to look at him, “almost like it’s going to happen soon.”**

 

**Scott’s eyes seem far away when he looks back at her.  “She doesn't deserve this fate....I can’t be responsible” he lets the statement drift between them unfinished.  Lydia nods.  She understands. Scott is scared of not being able to save Mackenzie just like how he couldn’t save his mother.**

 

**“Scott,” she says, “What happened wasn’t your fault.”**

 

**“Lydia, there is a reason she got shot.” Scott growls, “Don’t you remember they were after me.”**

 

**“I know,” she says, “I know.”**

 

**“Lydia, I’m tired.”**

 

**“Do you need to sleep.”**

 

**“No, Lydia I'm tired of being nice to those hunters if they want to fight. I won’t hold back.” Scott looks at her with what looks like anger.**

 

**“He’s playing with your mind, Scott.” Lydia sounds broken. “He wants us to act like monsters.”**

 

**“We protect the ones who need protecting, right?”**

 

**“Right.”**


	7. Chapter 7

**Scott steps forward and replaces the withering flowers on top of her tombstone with new ones. He hangs his head as he stands in front of her grave. It's been a month; since she died. He visits her at least once every week, bringing her different bouquet of flowers each time. Today he brought daisies, wanting to bring flowers that symbolize, "Stability and reliability, two important qualities he shared with his mother.**

 

**“I’m fucking sick of this,” Scott growls as he sits down in front of her like he always does; his legs are crossed and he plays mindlessly with the sand all around him. The dirt is still wet from dew that settled in the morning but he doesn't care. He likes how quiet it is. At one point Stiles will show up, interrupting his solitude, telling him it’s time to go but for the most part he's left alone for now. “I just needed you here.  I can't-do this without you.”**

 

**Stiles always tells him that his visits are only making it worse. He think that by coming to see her so often he's not giving himself the space necessary to move on and it's true. Scott will never forgive the hunters that attack his house and killed his mother. Perhaps he's even angrier with himself for not doing more to stop it. He's never been able to come to terms with her death, still asking why someone so strong and selfless was the one to have fallen.**

 

**"I'm sorry," he whispers to her grave. He says it every time. "I never meant to fail you. You always taught me to look for the positive in people but how can I when they took you away. My mother. He lets his hand drop back into his lap and sighs. “I should’ve been the one to die, not you,” Scott says.**

 

**_“Don’t say that,” a voice whisperer,  “Please, Scott, you can’t think that.”_ **

 

**_“Mom,”_ **

 

**_“Scott, you’re stronger than this.  Scott, god dammit, do something. Don’t let it end like this.  I swear to god, I’ll never forgive you if you don’t fight back right now._ **

 

**_“MOM WHY’D YOU LEAVE!”_ **

****

**_It’s quiet for a long time after the Scott yells. He’s terrified that the conversation is over, meaning he won’t get to hear his mom's voice again._ **

****

**_“I died to protect you, Scott,” the woman says softly. “I made a choice, and I don’t regret it. I thought you would understand.”_ **

 

**“Scott.”  a voice says sounding concern. "I thought I might find you here,"**

 

**He jumps slightly as a hand touches his shoulder in comfort. He doesn't have to look up to know who it is.**

 

**"Sorry... I didn't realize it was late," he replied, glancing up to notice that the sun is just disappearing over the horizon.**

 

**Lydia nods her head. "It's okay. I just wanted to tell you Stiles already left.”**

 

**"I understand, this is my responsibility, not Stiles," Scott says, sighing as he rises to his feet and brushes the dirt from his jeans. “ I’m sorry for putting you guys in danger.”**

 

**"I don't want you to think that you’re responsible. I won’t let you carry the weight of the world on your shoulder.”She holds out her hand and slides her fingers along his palm before locking their hands together.**

 

**“Thank you Lydia for being here when I needed you.” Scott gives her a sad smile as she cuddles close to him.**

 

**“I promise I would never leave you.”**

 

**"We should go," he says to Lydia, breaking the eerie silence that had settled between them. She bites her lip, taking one last look in front of her before lifting her head. She looks at him and nods and he gives her hand a reassuring squeeze. They slowly turn away and begin their walk back to his house hand in hand.**

* * *

 

  **Lydia wakes up with a jolt, the same as she has every day since the voices appeared.  She doesn’t know why, but for the first time ever the voices were replaced by memories. The good memories of Scott and Lydia. How they started to lean on each other when others ran and how at the end it led up to them sleeping together one night.  She can feel the memories bringing butterflies in her stomach. It feels like a tingling sensation she hasn’t felt for a long time.  The more the memories appear, the more she feels guilty for keeping Scott away from his child. It’s the kind of anxiety she wished disappeared.**

 

**The worst part is she knows she should tell him before they visit Derek’s. He deserves to know by her. She knows if she doesn't tell him he would figure it out with his werewolf senses. She isn’t stupid. She’s aware of Scott ability to put two missing pieces together. She might as well get dress and talk to him without Stiles.**

 

**She changes faster than she’s ever changed in her life.  It takes her less than thirty seconds to change and strap both heels to her feet.  She needs to talk to him before Stiles wakes up. A quick scan of her room tells her he’s still here.  She creeps past the bathroom and hurries down the stairs as quietly as she can before scurrying into the kitchen. Thankfully, he’s alone drinking a glass of milk.**

 

**“Lydia, You smell terrified,” he says.  “Did you have a nightmare?” he asks while taking a step forward.**

 

**This is so embarrassing.  Why couldn’t he just keep his super senses to himself?**

 

**“No, Scott we need to talk?”.**

 

**“Okay, i’m all ears.”**

 

**“Do you remember when we…”**

 

**“Hey guys,” Stiles greets, his face overtaken by the grin he’s sporting.  “How are you? What, don’t answer that.  I’ll tell you: You’re happy, because today, we are ending this war.” She closes her eyes, and slightly winces telling Scott they will talk later.**

 

**He nods in response wondering why she was so nervous around them.**


	8. Chapter 8

**They clung to each other, his back slick with sweat, her head thrown back, her neck exposed. Each time he thrust in, she heard herself moan with pleasure, and she could feel her heart beating against him. He plunged faster and faster until he knew she had reached the top, and she almost felt like she couldn't breathe and then an explosion like she had never felt before flooded her system. Her hips heaved beneath him, and she saw flashes of light beneath her closed eyelids. She cried out and dug her nails into him, the dizzy feeling swirling around inside her, almost as if she had jumped from an airplane into space. A sudden spread of heat went through her blood, and her hearing went fuzzy while her heart beat rapidly against his chest.**

**Scott felt her writhing beneath him, heard her cry out and the strong, smooth muscles that surrounded his penis began to clench even tighter, and all the tools he been using to keep from going before her, he now pitched aside as he focused his attention on the banshee’s body and the incredible feeling she gave him of being inside her. Lydia was tight and wet and achingly warm, and he watched as her eyes squeezed tight and heard her breathe as it came out raspy, short waves as her body moved under him.He grabbed her hips and held her close to him, his hand pressing into her soft flesh. The tingling in the back of his knees was intensifying and moved up his leg, and in seconds he was on verge of his eruption.**

**He plunged into her harder and more forceful again and again until a deep, raw growl ripped from his throat, and he felt himself release inside her; powerful, a throbbing pulse that made him shudder on top of her, his body and heart pounding with a high-voltage release. She felt every throb he had as he left himself inside her, and Lydia pulled him even tighter to her body, not wanting to ever part from him.**

**He slowly eased his movement within her, relishing the flood of warmth that saturated every cell in his body. Scott bent his head down and rested his head against her shoulder. He pulled his hand from underneath her and lay above her on his elbow. His heartbeat thudded heavily in his ears, and he didn't think he could focus on anything if he opened his eyes. He swallowed hard, trying to moisten his parted throat, and his breathing was quick and rough on her neck.She brought her hands up to his back and found it slick with sweat, and she rubbed her hands over him. His breathing was slowed when he finally was able to raise his head. His damped hair sticking out as he looked down at her face. She brought her hands around to hold his face in them as she looked into his red eyes.**

**This was Lydia Martin.**

**He had always thought Lydia to be off limits. Except for the time when he makes out with her in coach office and didn’t think about the consequences. And maybe he finally crossed the line. In fact, he’s pretty sure he did because Lydia is in his bed and Stiles who's had a crush on Lydia since forever now is in Washington not aware.**

**He fucked up, he really screwed up. He tries to tell himself, nothing would change.**

**And he could just forget about them.**

**Because Lydia had always been Stiles, not literally, maybe figuratively, maybe not even that. That's just what he associated her with. Along with beautiful, talented, smart, dependable, and so many more positive words.**

**Stiles.**

**Stiles doesn't deserve this betrayal, not from him. He needs to put himself together and find an anchor that will stop him from hurting anyone mentally and physically.**

**“Lydia, this was incredible but..” He couldn't find the words he wanted to say. He just wanted to know if she didn’t expect, them to last.  Maybe if they found each other under different circumstances he wouldn't think twice of breaking this moment, but he had to for Stiles.**

**She looked at him intently. Just as he was having trouble speaking the thought going through his mind, she also couldn't find the right words.**

**She knew they couldn’t be together because of Stiles, but somehow being here with Scott felt right. It was as if the experience with him made her feel safe. No man had ever looked at her and promised to protect her from the nightmares she been seeing.**

**He watched her face as he struggled with the words to say. She turned her head towards the window and he noticed a tear has escaped from the corner of her eye and left it traces across her cheek.**

**“Lyds, are you alright Did I hurt you?” he demanded, a sudden ache like he’d just been punched in the stomach shot through him. She shook her head against the covers, not ready to look at him yet. “Lydia, answer me please, talk to me, if I hurt you, I need to know,” Slowly she turned her head back to see his wolf face. It was marked with worry and anger-anger that he might have done something wrong, something too rough and he overlooked it in his blind passion. She shook her head again softly while looking directly at him.**

**“I don’t know how to feel about anything anymore.  I know our pack is scared of the Supernatural. I know we are the only ones fighting.  But all the beliefs that I had in us. .  . I don’t believe them anymore.  I don’t think we can save everyone.”**

**“What are you talking about?  We stopped the ghost riders, didn’t we?  Peter’s locked up, isn’t he?  Have you ever thought about how many lives we saved by killing the beast?”**

**“Have you ever thought about the people we hurt? Allison, Aiden, Erica, Boyd and your mom,”  Lydia says.  “They all died because of us.”**

**“Those things were beyond our control, and you know it,” says Scott.**

**“Exactly,” she says in a high-pitched tone.  “Don’t you see?  People like us, Scott, we can’t afford to have our powers be one of the things beyond our control.  How can we help people?  How can we help this town when we can’t even save ourselves.”**

**“You’re over thinking this,”  he says.**

**“Am I?”**

**“Yes,” he snaps, “You are.  You’re focusing on the past instead of the present.”**

**“The present?” she scoffs.  “Look around, Scott everyone left. We are the only ones hanging on a thread. How are we going to stop them?”**

**“I don’t know, but Lydia I would die before I let anyone hurt** **you,” he whispered against her shoulder.**

**“I know, that’s why you’re hesitant about us.” He raised up and looked at her again. She was right. This changed a lot of things. He couldn't be with her when Stiles could return any day. He couldn’t hurt Stiles (not again) even if he felt something.**

**“Will you be able to forgive me if I said this was a mistake.”**

**Tears continue to flow down her cheek, she smiles up at him the best way she can. “You’re a good guy Scott.”**

**“You really okay.”**

**“Well, for the record we both knew this was a mistake,” she says.  Her tone is sharp.  She reaches for Scott’s hand and holds it, palms up, in the moonlight. “We just need to learn to forget.”**

                                                                                                           


	9. Chapter 9

**“She’s yours.”**

**“She’s yours.”**

 

**The words taste like poison on her tongue.**

 

**She wants to scream.**

 

**She wants to cry.**

 

**She wants to tell him that he deserves to be mad and that she hates herself and that she doesn’t deserve the ray of sunshine that is her daughter and she wants to ask him if he hates her for running away two weeks after she found out about Mackenzie.She wants to curl her fingers into fists and hit him until he says something instead of staring at her with an unknown expression. She wants to run into Derek’s house and pick up Mackenzie and she wants to drive as fast and as far away from Scott. Maybe even go back in time and stop herself from creating this mistake.**

 

**What she wants doesn’t matter.**

 

**It never has – not when Mackenzie needs him.**

 

**And, as much as it kills her to admit it, her daughter is one of them.**

 

**Scott is completely still; staring at her like he can’t understand what she just confirmed –accusing and confused and so very angry – watching her the same way he’d watched Stiles when his best friend accused him of ruining his life. Lydia thinks, offhandedly, that he’s looking at her in the exact same way that she’d stared at her pregnancy test, and the comparison makes a sardonic and panicked giggle bubble in her chest with so much force that it takes everything in her to knock it back and shove it down her throat before it bursts out.**

 

**Hysteria will do that to you.**

 

**But there’d been no point in trying to deny it any longer.**

 

**Not when he had gotten a good look at her baby. Not when Scott sat down in Derek’s kitchen table, examining her little girl for all the infamous supernatural quirks that he’d be able to spot a mile away. Not when Scott asked her if they could talk outside and dragged her away before the pack could question their leader's action. Not when he shoved her into Stiles car and drove away from the house and asked why she hid her.**

 

**She’s terrified.**

 

**She’s terrified, but it’s not of him, per se.**

 

**Lydia’s not afraid of Scott: never really has been, doesn’t think she ever will be. She knows he’ll never do anything to physically hurt her. She knows that while he might be mad, he will never lose himself to the darkness. He never harmed others for his own joy or entertainment and he doesn’t mean for the people around him to get hurt.**

 

**But they do.**

 

**They always do.**

 

**Sometimes because of his life and sometimes by the circumstances; sometimes by his enemies and sometimes just as the residue of the storm of self-hatred and destruction that he surrounds himself in.**

 

**Ultimately, that’d been what stopped her from setting out to find him all those years ago. That’s what scared her the most about having her daughter anywhere near him. That’s why she’d picked up and run until she found a place where she felt safe and where she’d sworn she could build a good life for her little baby.**

 

**That’s why she’d prayed every single day that he’d never find out about Mackenzie.**

 

**Because being anywhere near Scott Mccall was as close to signing away their freedom as a person could get. Being with Scott meant a life of danger and running and having people constantly trying to hurt you: it meant never having stability and always lying to everyone around you and it meant never being able to run away from the death surrounding Beacon Hills.**

 

**Being with Scott was the same as living with a ticking time-bomb.**

 

**And now Mackenzie was going to be exposed to it.**

 

**He would never let his daughter go.**

 

**She could tell now just as much as she’d tried to deny it and convince herself of the opposite five years ago that he would love Mackenzie with everything he had. He wouldn’t be able to see that the greatest gift he could give her was to stay away and let her live her life in peace. He would push and shove until he got what he wanted. He would set out to keep his daughter with him and protect her at all costs and that would be her baby’s downfall.**

 

**Lydia couldn’t bear it.**

 

**“How could you hide this from me?”**

 

**The shock has broken through, and now all that’s left in him is anger.**

 

**That’s okay, though. She’s always been able to handle him when he’s looking back at her with those red eyes and is growling at her.**

 

**“What was I supposed to do?” she demands, arming herself for what’s sure to be his verbal onslaught. “Track you down and tell you that we were having a baby? I was almost two weeks along when I found out. I made the choice to worry about ensuring the home and stability of my daughter instead of spending all my time wandering around Beacons Hills scared for our life.”**

 

**He’s not satisfied with her response.**

 

**“Don’t give me bullshit excuses, Lydia,” he snaps back, lowering his voice when she locked eyes with him, fear evident in her eyes. “You know I would have protected you,” Scott accuses her, moving closer to her again and pointing a finger right in front of her face before seeming to catch himself, groaning and pulling back until there’s more than a foot of distance between them. “I wouldn’t have let anybody hurt you.”**

 

**“Really? You were going to keep me safe and away from everything when I was pregnant with her? When you couldn’t go more than a few hours without getting shot?” she questions him, throwing back his greatest downfalls in his face because he doesn’t get to do this. He doesn’t get to turn her into a monster for being able to see reason in the middle of adversity. He doesn’t get to make her feel guilty for choosing her daughter’s safety over him.**

 

**“We barely managed to get by when we were on our own, and even then we were always targeted. How were we going survive with a crying baby in our arms? What were we going to do if we were hiding from anything – because you do remember that always happens here in Beacon Hills, don’t you? – and they might use her against us?**

 

**“We would’ve left – I would have left,” he tries to break through her tirade, refusing to listen to reason even though she knows he understands. He’s shaking his head and he’s pinching the bridge of his nose and his denial is so blatant on his face that it breaks her heart just a little bit more than it already is. “I could’ve found us somewhere safe to live and you wouldn’t have been involved in any other hunt and we would’ve been fine.”**

 

**Lydia waits for him to look at her again; waits until she has his full attention and she lets a little bit of her anger break – allows herself to feel the compassion she’s always held in her heart for him as she tries to explain her fears and reasoning to him, regardless of whether he deserves it or not.**

 

**“No not with you in our lives?” she says aloud, and this time it’s she who scoots closer to him. “We were always in danger, because of you. Everything that has happened is because everyone wants you dead. What would happen if I let you be apart of her life then one day you get killed by them. How do you think Mackenzie would react to her father dying right in front of her.**

 

**“Don’t go there,” he warns her, but it sounds more like a pained plea.**

 

**“I have to,” she reminds him, placing her hand on top of his and pretending not to notice the way it seems to soothe him momentarily. “I have to now just like I did when I found out. I was nineteen and heartbroken and alone and I had to think about everything. I had to think about you and her and me and what would happen if I was killed because I stuck around all that death and knowingly brought my baby into it. I had to think about who would take care of her if I was gone, because you wouldn’t have been able to handle it, and how she would get by and what path led to her best chance.”**

 

**“No,” he waves her off, pulling his hand free from her touch and refusing to listen to her any longer. “You should have told me. You don’t get to hide a fucking kid from someone and claim it was because it would’ve been inconvenient for them.”**

 

**“That’s not what I said and you know it.”**

 

**“Yeah, what you’re saying is that I’m a death wish waiting to happen and your only option was to run away from me,” he sneers, and for once Lydia can’t decipher whether the disgust on his face is directed at her or himself. “I get it; I’m a fucking monster and I can’t change nothing, but you hid my kid from me for five years and I can’t believe you were planning on keeping her from me.**

 

**Something inside of Lydia snaps.**

 

**She has come too far and been through way too much to let a boy push her to the curb and make her feel incompetent and immature for making the difficult choices that they all refused to deal with.**

 

**If he wants to play dirty she has more than a couple of cards hidden up her sleeve.**

 

**“The last time I saw you, you told me that we were a mistake.That what happened needed to be forgotten because I belong to Stiles,” she reminds him, hating the way the words choke in her throat and come out just above a broken whisper at the memory of that day. “I had agreed knowing you hated yourself for getting involved with me. Although I never got to tell you how I felt.”**

 

**He pauses, stares at her like he can’t seem to stop doing since he shoved her insides Stiles car and opens his mouth to object when she cuts him off.**

 

**“So don’t you dare make yourself out to be the victim here.”**

 

**This is it.**

 

**This is the line she’s drawing for him. He can be angry and he can yell and he can feel whatever the hell it is he wants to but she will not let him turn himself into a martyr. She will not let him guilt her into forgetting every reason she had to stay away from Beacon Hills. She will not second guess herself again.**

 

**She’d fell for him – blindly and fiercely and desperately – but he’d been toxic; the greatest service she’d ever done for Mackenzie was taking her away from him instead of gambling her future on the possibility of his life-changing.**

 

**“You know what? We don’t have time for this right now,” he decides, slamming his palms together as a sign that he’s done with this conversation and rubbing them together before turning away from her. “ Our daughter is in danger and I won’t stop until we end this war.”**

 

**“If I go with you,” she finally relents, and he feels the first flutters of hope beat against his chest. “You have to promise me that once we enter the house you won’t tell Mackenzie about us.”**

 

**He hears what she means, loud and clear: ‘you don’t get to tell her about your identity.**

 

**“No,” says Scott with his hands still wrapped around his head. “She deserves to know.”**

 

**“What are you doing?” Lydia says in high-pitched almost squeal. “ you can’t tell her in front of the pack. Think about Stiles”**

**Scott turns to face her as he tries to turn on the car.  “seriously,” he says,  “You think I care about his opinion.”**

**“Are you okay?” she continues in the same panicked tone.  Something just feels wrong, and she can’t pinpoint what.**

**Scott closes his eyes and leans his head against the side of the car window.  “No, I’m not okay,” he says but his voice sounds like it's been through a grinder.  She looks at his hands.  No claws.  That’s good.  “I just need to go,” he says.**

**“Where?” she says.  Her voice is hushed - the way you’d speak to a friend while you’re both hiding during a game of hide-and-seek.**

**He puts a hand over his already closed eyes.  “Anywhere but here,” he says.**

**Lydia leans over up begins to cautiously grab him from the shirt. “Scott, I'm sorry for hurting you but you need to understand...”**

**“Stop, just Stop already!” he snarls as he drops his hand and opens his red eyes to glare at her.  Lydia stops her forward shuffle.  “Just stay back!  I can’t stand how you smell,” he continues as he opens the car door and swings his leg out the vehicle.  “How you’re terrified of me,” he says as he starts to grab a hold of her wrist,  “It smelled so bitter at first, it almost burnt my nose, and now. . .”  He pushes Lydia hand away and watches her with red eyes that seem to hold an obscene wave of conflicting emotions - grief tosses joy and sorrow swallow them both before power washes up in the surf.  “And now I think you’re right about everything,”  He takes a small step back and wipes his tears. “Mackenzie deserves better than me.”**

 

**“What are you talking about Scott?”**

 

**“I won’t tell her about me.  That’s what I’m talking about,” he says.  “I can’t let Gerard use her against me.”**

 

**“Scott..”**

 

**“I need to go,” he says quickly as he swipes under his eyes. “Just take care of her.”**

 


End file.
